18 March 2016 is the date of the Migration Deal signed between EU and Turkey, which has been heavily criticized by both politicians and media, but especially by the legal community. When we look at the history of this important decision, which some call an agreement and others call a treaty, we know from the academicians and experts working in the field of migration that it was put forward by a think tank within the EU and developed by Dutch bureaucrats. However, there is another issue that makes this date so important and that is the Syrian War that started on 15 March 2011.
12 years have passed since the 2011 Syrian war. Although there is no result of this war yet, the most important and long-standing result for us is the migrants coming to Turkey.
On 9 November 2023, the Minister of Interior announced that the number of regular migrants in Turkey, including Syrian migrants, is 4 million 643 thousand 986. The number of irregular migrants caught only is around 1.5 million between 2015-2021.
2015 was the year of the highest number of people trying to cross from Turkey to European countries, and therefore the EU-Turkey Statement was established in 2016 in order to prevent new wave of migrants from entering European countries. The usual tendency of the European Union countries, which is referred to as the policy of externalization in migration literature, has led to the “normalization” of the treatment of migration as a security issue. Since the day after the signing of this agreement, North African and Eastern countries have also reached out to EU bureaucrats and expressed their readiness to establish an agreement similar to the one with Turkey.
A new dimension has been opened in the context of migration and human rights after the fact that negotiations on the rights of migrants have been made publicly, even by countries known to be the most respectful of international law and human rights. The legal community, which states that the agreement is designed in a way to circumvent international law and that no agreement can be mentioned and no accountability can be asked when the parties deny the existence of this agreement, says that this agreement paves the way for informality with this feature and that its real effects will be seen more clearly in the long term.
Actually there are basically three dimensions to this agreement: Turkey, the EU and of course the refugees. Why did Turkey sign this agreement with such negative criticism? The most obvious reasons are getting free visa from EU and financial aid. The other issue, which is particularly known and designed in the agreement, is that for each refugee that Turkey prevents and readmits, one Syrian refugee who tries to cross the border irregularly to European countries will be sent to Europe as a refugee on a regular basis. The time shows us how these expectations couldn’t be met.
It was signed with a political stance “for the sake of appearances”, to use a Turkish phrase, and is in a state of agreement in which none of the signatories, not even the signatories themselves, follow up on the promises after signing.
Let’s take a look at what has happened during the 7 years this agreement has been in force: The most basic and indispensable rule for a migrant to apply for asylum in Europe through a third country application is that it must be known that the country of transit is not safe. But of course, since the signing of this agreement, Turkey has been recognized by the EU as a safe country for migrants. However, Turkey is the only country to have signed the Geneva Convention with the geographical restriction that no refugee status be granted to those from non-Council of Europe member states. Temporary protection status is an element of insecurity in itself; it does not confer international protection status and is a legal registration document with temporary and variable rights and responsibilities that can be cancelled at any time by the government. The acceptance of Turkey as a safe 3rd country by the EU countries prevents migrants from exercising their rights under international law and turns them into objects of humanitarian aid rather than political subjects.
There is another issue caused by this agreement, which we are trying to talk about with its causes rather than its promises: In February 2020, it was announced that the border gates in Edirne would be opened towards Greece and people would come there, even providing facilities and buses to those who wanted to cross the border. The migrants heading towards the Greek border could not cross to Greece as Greece increased border security and they were stuck in the buffer zone between the two countries. A wait lasting approximately 2-3 weeks started at the border. Those who wanted to cross the border were met with intense violence by Greek security forces. Some families lost their members when they tried to pass Meric River. Human rights organizations travelled to the border region to provide basic living supplies such as clothing, heating and food. With the onset of the pandemic, thousands of people were collected and taken to a camp or to other provinces. There has been a human rights drama that human rights organizations have witnessed and unfortunately the media and therefore the public at large have not seen enough.
At this point, human trafficking and illegal border crossings have increased due to the fact that Syrian refugees do not seek their international rights because of this agreement and EU countries have stopped taking in refugees legally. Although the EU emphasizes the successful outcome of the agreement by claiming a 94% reduction in border crossings, migrant deaths at the border are on the rise, as they are more exposed to insecure conditions.
“no one leaves home unless
dildhome is the mouth of a shark.
you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.”
wrote Warsan Shire, a Somalian writer-poet born in Kenya, in her poem “Home”.
The threat to open the borders in 2020 also prompted a reaction from the EU, which reminded us of a completely different understanding of “home” than the above poem on migration. The EU announced the Migration and Asylum Pact on 23 September 2020. Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, likened the content of the Pact to a 3-storey “home”. Transit and origin countries on the first floor, border strengthening on the second floor, and EU countries on the third and top floor.